by Cathy Lynn Grossman and William M. Welch, USA TODAY

by Cathy Lynn Grossman and William M. Welch, USA TODAY

Missouri Lottery officials said Thursday that they had confirmed a ticket that matched all six numbers drawn the night before, winning a share of the $587.5 million Powerball jackpot.

Lottery Chief Operations Officer Gary Gonder said he could not reveal details on the winning ticketholder but scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. CST Friday at a high school near where the ticket was sold in tiny Dearborn, Mo.

Powerball administrators said another winning ticket was sold in Arizona, where officials were waiting for the winner to step forward.

Executives in both states sent out the same advice to whoever has one: Sign it, secure it, and consult legal and financial advisers before all the publicity fireworks begin.

Arizona set up special phone line for the person or group that bought a $10 Quick Pick ticket to call.

May Scheve Reardon, executive director of the Missouri Lottery, said Thursday, "We don't want them to feel rushed."

They have weeks to claim their half of the prize. It has a cash value of $384.7 million cash value.

Officials also announced the retail outlets where the winning tickets were sold. Whoever picked the right six numbers - 05, 16, 22, 23, 29, and a Powerball of 6 - shopped at a Trex Mart in Dearborn, Mo., midway between Kansas City and St. Joseph, or the 4 Sons Food Store in Fountain Hills, northeast of Phoenix.

The lucky retail outlets each won bonuses - $50,000 in Missouri and $25,000 in Arizona.

In Dearborn, population 500, the mood was giddy Thursday at the store where $27,000 worth of tickets were sold in the past few days. Cashier Kristi Williams said she hoped one of their many regulars was the winner.

"Even the truck drivers who come around, we see them every day, so they all feel like all locals to us," said Baron Hartell, son of the store's owner, Lowell Hartell.

Trex Mart General Manager Kenny Gilber, noting that a retailer who sells the winning ticket gets $50,000, said, "I guess we'll be able to give out Christmas bonuses. That's nice, especially at this time of year."

The jackpot winner was not the only lucky player. Missouri has two winners of the $1 million prizes for matching all five white balls in the Powerball game.

South Carolina lottery officials said three tickets sold in that state matched five of of the six numbers. One winner was worth $1 million and two were worth $2 million.

Jerry Hucks, of Rock Hill, S.C., a truck builder for Daimler Trucks in Cleveland, N.C., said that on Thursday morning he looked at the ticket he had waited in line to buy a day earlier and realized he had five matches. It was good for $1 million.

"I didn't even have the truck door locked, and I had a $1 million ticket out there," he told lottery officials when he arrived Thursday to collect his winnings. "Then I can't believe I let three or four guys at work hold my ticket and Google the numbers screaming, 'It's a $1 million.' "

He said he told his colleagues, "I'm not quitting, but I'm not working anymore overtime."

The jackpot had climbed to $587.5 million after frenzied buying across the country before the Wednesday night drawing.

Chuck Strutt, the association's director, says skyrocketing sales pushed Wednesday's prize higher. There have been 16 consecutive drawings since Oct. 6 without a jackpot winner, which has fueled more than 500 million ticket purchases and exponential growth in the jackpot, second-biggest ever after March's $656 million Mega Millions award.

Strutt says hopefuls will have spent more than $1 billion wagering on the current jackpot.

The Arizona and Missouri winners are lucky one more way: They're not in high tax states.

A winner will certainly be boosted into the top the federal tax bracket - 35%. But state and local taxes bites vary steeply.

The Wall Street Journal calculated that Powerball winnings could be worth as much as $30 million less in top-tax New York than in one of the seven states that don't tax Powerball winnings. Unfortunately, those states don't include Arizona and Missouri.

Neither do these two states allow the jackpot holders to remain anonymous. So after the tax bite, could come a parade of long-lost family and friends and promoters of charitable causes.